On 14 December 2004, the Government announced its final plans for a
radical shake-up of Britain's gambling laws. But the Gambling Bill
excluded the 137 existing casino licenceholders from the proposed
deregulated regime being put forward for super-casinos.

With the Government also pledging major 'regeneration' through licence
awards, the British Casino Association and its members feared the
worst.

With large foreign operators promising big capital investments to secure
the attractive new licences, the BCA launched its defensive
campaign.

M: Communications was brought in to mastermind a media relations
strategy that would target policy makers within Whitehall and
Parliament.

Objectives

To provoke the Government into renewed debate by highlighting the
unfairness of the proposed law. To even up the playing field by lifting
the regulations for existing casinos on the number of slot machines
allowed and easing advertising restrictions.

Strategy and Plan

The campaign's underlying approach was to provide a strong media
platform for opposition parties to champion the BCA's cause - ensuring
that its members, rather than Las Vegas-style operators from abroad,
were chosen to lead the reform of UK gambling.

The BCA also wanted to publicly oppose the £1m pay-out machines
(proposed exclusively for super-casinos) that were raising major
concerns among church groups and other non-government organisations.

M: Communications opened with an exclusive interview between a leading
BCA member and BBC business editor Jeff Randall, which was quickly
followed up by the Today programme, for which BCA chairman Penny Cobham
was questioned.

Adverts for the national press highlighting the Government's admission
that the bill was an experiment, and a live spot on the BBC's Week in
Politics programme, were secured.

The TV debate was deemed such a success for the BCA that M:
Communications used some of the Government's responses in further
national press ads to highlight what it saw as Labour's weakness on the
issue.

Measurement and Evaluation

As well as appearing as adverts in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The
Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and the Evening Standard, the
campaign was mentioned in 1,385 articles in the national press, 57 radio
pieces and five national TV reports.

Results

The Tories and Liberal Democrats publicly backed the BCA. The combined
effort yielded significant Government concessions - for example securing
a doubling of limited pay-out machines per existing casino.

With the election called for May, Labour reduced the proposed eight
super-casinos to a single 'experimental' casino. The UK's quoted
operators saw more than £100m added overnight to their combined
share prices.

Financial Times leisure industries correspondant Matthew Garrahan says:
'With the US operators smarting at the latest policy change, there was
good news for the UK's gaming groups.'